First Sunday off in ages , to good to last ,I got a call from my boss ( he was wearing his freindly voice ) to ask if I would work on Sun. starting @ 0530 !!!! I replied you gotta be f*ect. kidding !!! Anyhow we came to a deal ,seeing that I'd just worked 12nights straight without time off that I could take 3 days leave in the week ( the double time for Sun. had nothing to do with it ) .So anyway I get up on about the third or forth go the alarm has to rouse me @ 0500 open the front door to see what the weather is doing & its about minus bloody 5 outside , look at the bike & think bugger that & pinch the wifes car ,the first time in 3yrs I havent rode in I now feel guilty as sin ! I get a call from the wife later in the morning to say she wants the car back as she has to take the daughter to work ( she works p/time @ Mc D,s). so I go home in the work pick-up & pick up the missus ,my bike & gear & take them back to work. Time to go home , I get on the bike still undecided which route to take home , guilt makes me pick on the 50k one , my body says oh no ! Once I get going its not to bad & I start to enjoy the ride though theres not many people out on their bikes as its bitterly cold ,Im regreting the shorts decision . there are quite a few surfers in the water though ,I notice as I ride along the sea front ,they gotta be nuts !!By the time I get to my turn round point ,were the road turns to dirt , Im nicely warmed up & cruising along at about 25kph with a side wind coming off the sea . I decide to add another detour here of 4-5 ks.Theres quite a few people out walking ,all bundled up against the cold , my brain is busy doing its own thing while my consious mind is in neutral ,just looking after the driving, when this guy on a top of the line road bike passes me ( all Litespeed & lycra, oh & yellow tyres , at least the back one was, I never got to see the front one ! ) He was about 20 mtrs ahead & I decide Im lonely & want some one to talk to , I try to catch him ,I gain some ground on him but I cant seem to quite get in his air (it must have been those yellow tyres ?) so i drop back after about a K ,I check the commputer & the max. speed reads 36 kph , not too bad for me ! as I ride under the base of Mout Maunganui I turn to home only 15ks to go , its turning dark & its getting colder as I ride across the harbour bridge I get the force of quite a brisk south westerly wind 3/4 head on & glad that Ill be home soon , thinking of the fire & a coffee with a shot in it Im climbing the last hill home & I look at the commputer again & check the milage ,its 57 ks so I think Ill by-pass home & do a few Ks more to make it 60 (my guilty consionce kicking in !! ). Just as Im crossing an intersection & a 4x4 towing a boat turns the corner right across my path & nearly rips my leg off whith the trailers mudguard !! the pillock never even saw me though I had my LEDs flashing ,I don't think he heard my shouts of abuse either ,though the old lady checking her mail box did Now Ive got a bit of an adrenaline shot I ride a bit more than I intended & take in a local hill to burn off my aggression . Home at last & Ive cycled 64ks home from work , the longest I've rode in one go for quite a while . Guilt all gone too:thumbup: